Imagine being a parent in Cherry Hill, N.J., who exercised your right to opt your child out of a sex education curriculum you deemed inappropriate.

You completed the necessary forms, trusting the school district to respect your family’s privacy.

Now imagine discovering that your child’s name was inadvertently disclosed to the public in response to a records request.

This isn’t a hypothetical scenario — it happened. In September 2023, Cherry Hill Public Schools mistakenly released a list of students who had opted out of sex education classes while responding to a public records request.

The district initially redacted the students’ names, but they became visible once the list was converted to a different format via OPRAmachine.com, a website that assists New Jersey residents with tracking public records requests.

The list contained the names of at least 92 elementary school students whose parents had opted them out of sex education classes for the 2022-23 academic year.

This disclosure has raised significant concerns about student privacy and the district’s adherence to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), a federal law designed to protect students’ education records. Local parent and former school board candidate Harvey Vazquez, whose son’s name was included on the list, expressed his concerns at a Cherry Hill school board meeting, stating that there is a high likelihood of legal action if the matter is not “rectified promptly.”

By contrast, when the Freedom Foundation submitted an Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request to Cherry Hill Public Schools on Sept. 24 seeking information about public employees and union-related matters, the district failed to respond. No acknowledgment, no information, nothing.

This lack of response is a direct violation of OPRA law, which mandates timely and transparent disclosure of public records.

This discrepancy highlights a troubling double standard. Students are private citizens, and their information should be closely guarded. Yet in this case, their names were released without proper safeguards.

Conversely, public employees are government servants whose salaries are funded by taxpayers, and their information should be readily accessible. Still, are inquiries are stonewalled.

Why does the district (and by extension, New Jersey law) get this so wrong? The answer lies in a broader issue: Officials are weaponizing laws designed to promote open government to punish those who challenge their agenda while shielding their allies.

Earlier this year, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy — with strong support from public-sector unions — signed legislation that significantly weakened OPRA. Under the new law, public entities no longer have to pay legal fees if a citizen successfully sues for access to records.

This discourages individuals and organizations from challenging illegal denials, as the financial burden falls squarely on them.

This isn’t about streamlining government — it’s about maintaining control. By making it harder to obtain public information, officials can silence groups like the Freedom Foundation, which helps public employees assert their rights against union overreach.

Meanwhile, when a public records request about children and sex education arises, the same officials show no hesitation in disclosing sensitive information.

Where are the privacy safeguards for students? Where is the bureaucratic scrutiny that routinely obstructs transparency for taxpayers?

New Jersey’s government has it backward. Cherry Hill parents placed their trust in the school district to protect their children’s privacy. That trust was shattered. Public employees and taxpayers deserve similar accountability from their government, but records that would empower workers are routinely withheld.

This isn’t just unfair — it’s un-American. Transparency and privacy are not partisan issues — they are fundamental principles of accountability. Government officials don’t get to decide whose rights matter based on political convenience.

This incident is a wakeup call. It exposes the hypocrisy of a system that prioritizes the interests of unions and bureaucrats over the people they are supposed to serve. If New Jersey continues to allow selective transparency, it’s not just students or public employees who will suffer — it’s everyone who values fairness and accountability.

Cherry Hill is only the beginning. It’s time to demand consistent application of OPRA and insist on protections that ensure government serves the public—not just the powerful.